Atiku Loses Bid to Unseat Tinubu as Supreme Court Dismisses Appeal

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Atiku Abubakar, challenging the victory of President Bola Tinubu in the February 25 presidential election.

The apex court upheld the September 6 judgment of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal, which affirmed Tinubu’s election.

Atiku and his running mate, Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), had sought to nullify Tinubu’s election on the ground that he did not secure 25 per cent of the votes in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, as required by law.

However, the Supreme Court rejected their argument and accused Atiku of using a double-barrel approach to remove Tinubu from power.

Justice Okoro, who delivered the lead judgment, said that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was not a collation system, but an election body that conducted polls at polling units.

He said that INEC had the discretion to choose the form of transmitting results and that the FCT had no special status in the election.

He agreed with the tribunal that 25 per cent of the votes in the FCT was irrelevant and that there was no error in its decision.

Newsflash Nigeria had reported that the tribunal had declared that the FCT was not superior to other states in the country.

The judgment was still ongoing as of press time.

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